


How Sweet, How Dear, the Words We Hear

by CallistoNicol



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, because let's face it certain things are terrifying to admit, insecure adrien, lots of fluff, no matter how much the person you're talking to loves you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 00:01:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9045833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallistoNicol/pseuds/CallistoNicol
Summary: Ladybug caught Chat Noir in the most compromising of situations. At least, he thinks so. And he thinks she'd think so, too, if he'd just fess up to what he's doing, which he won't because he wants his girlfriend to still love him in five minutes. Secret Santa 2k16 gift for pallasjoanna





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pallasjoanna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasjoanna/gifts).



 

_Sailor Moon tilted her head up, face flushed as Tuxedo Mask moved toward her, prowling like a lion on the hunt. Her flush stole over the rest of her body and her heart sped up, beating double time. Was this what it felt like to have a heart attack?_

 

_Tuxedo Mask reached for her, pulling her close. One gloved hand traced over her lips. “Usagi,” he whispered, voice husky. Sailor Moon trembled in his grasp. The moment stretched out, reaching for eternity, until Sailor Moon gathered her courage and surged forward, gently pressing her lips to his. He met her with a gasp, his lips parting to hungrily welcome her affection._

 

_As their tongues battled for dominance--_

 

“Chat!” Ladybug shouted in excitement, landing next to Chat Noir on the roof of their school. “Been waiting long?”

 

Chat fumbled with his baton, his face flaming red at the compromising situation Ladybug almost found him in. He quickly deactivated his baton, silently mourning the loss of the romantic moment between his OTP, but there was no way in hell he was ever letting Ladybug know he read fanfiction in his spare time.

 

Slamming his baton into place behind his back, he gave his lady love his biggest, best grin, but due to her forgotten arrival, it came out more of a wide grimace. “Ladybug! Hi! You’re here! Like you said you would be and like I was totally anticipating!”

 

She gave him a quizzical look, tilting her head just the slightest in confusion. “Are you...okay?” she asked, concern written on her face. “You shoved away your baton awful fast.”

 

“Haha,” he gave the most awkward, fake laugh he’d ever produced in his life. Really, self? he demanded. A lifetime of distracting your father from your private hobby, and the best you can do is awkwardly laugh at your girlfriend? There was no way she was going to let this go.

 

So he did the next best thing he could think of. Surging forward himself, he kissed her, which she was not expecting, and totally threw the pair of them off balance. Falling to the roof in a tangle of limbs, the two superheroes burst into giggles. “Graceful,” Ladybug commented, her eyes dancing with laughter.

 

“Professional model skills,” Chat said, his grin much more natural. “It’s what landed me my latest job with _Gabriel_. If I keep up this level of grace, I’ll become an international sensation.”

 

Ladybug reached up to tweak his cat ears. He’d been Chat Noir for years, and it never ceased to amaze him how he could _feel_ his cat ears and tail when in costume, like extra appendages. His favorite thing was when Ladybug stroked his ears. A purr rumbled forth from his chest, announcing his satisfaction, which pleased His Lady. Her smile alone could keep him warm into eternity.

 

“Precious kitty,” she murmured, dropping a kiss on the crown of his head. Even more amazing than his phantom limbs was the fact that this wonderful, gorgeous creature had decided to date him. She was way too good for him, a fact he made sure to never remind her of, in case she took it to heart and dumped his sorry butt. Flying through the skies of Paris on patrol with her was his favorite treat and the best way to spend an evening--even better than discovering a new anime. He loved chasing and being chased by her from monument to monument, but he was especially fond of the end of patrol, when they’d snuggle up atop the Eiffel Tower and talk about life while watching the flickering lights of Paris.

 

Even better was the fact that they knew each other in real life. He could never get enough of sitting beside Marinette in class, doing homework together, eating lunch with their best friends, and holding her hand when their costumed gloves weren’t in the way. It was cheesy, he was well aware of it, but he thinked he liked holding her hand even better than kissing her. Kissing, although magnificent, was fleeting, and had to end in order to acquire enough oxygen to breathe. Hand holding, though, never had to end, a potential permanent connection he took way too much advantage of. She didn’t mind though. And that was the real best part.

 

Her fingers ran through his hair, producing tingles. His purring increased, which made her giggle. “I love it when you act like a cat,” she said fondly. Chat nuzzled into her neck, channeling a happy version of Plagg. It worked, and Ladybug giggled, his favorite sound. “So,” she said, keeping up her ministrations in his hair, “you going to tell me what you were really doing on your baton while you waited for me?”

 

Chat pulled away and leapt to his feet, accidentally hauling Ladybug up with him since they were still entwined. “Race you to Montmartre!” he shouted, wriggling out of her grasp, and took off, racing through the rooftops of Paris. She chased after him, of course, but this time wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as usual. Instead of the blissful laughter of youth, Chat’s heart was pumping as he frantically tried to think up a plausible lie he could tell Ladybug.

 

What would he look up that would make him so uncomfortable (besides the truth)? Universities? Foreign universities? One neither in Paris nor New York, where they were both considering studying so they could be close together? Except she already knew he would follow her to the ends of the earth. For that matter, he could always tie his career in with hers, since she wanted to be a fashion designer. Modeling wasn’t necessarily his long term goal, but if it kept him close to her and her out of his fanfiction business, he was willing to commit.

 

Uh...porn! That was a thing people looked at! She’d totally buy that’s what he did in his free time, right? Even though he’d never done it before and had, on multiple occasions, expressed disinterest in the subject matter?

 

He was...calling...Nino! But that wouldn’t make him nervous. Alya? Tom and Sabine? He was calling to get permission to marry her, even though they weren’t even legal yet?

 

Landing on the roof of Sacre Coeur, Ladybug dropped beside him almost immediately. Her eyes were already narrowed and her arms folded. Running through half the city hadn’t been enough to distract her.

 

“What--” she started, but he interrupted.

 

“I was calling Chloe.” His excuse had the desired effect as her hostility dropped and her shoulders lost tension. His girlfriend and his childhood friend, despite having him in common, still did not get along, and while he didn’t usually try to hide his interactions with Chloe, he did avoid bringing her up. It was the best possible excuse.

 

Except that he underestimated how well Ladybug knew him. She was willing to accept the Chloe excuse for about ten seconds, before her narrowed eyes returned. “You’re lying to me,” she said accusingly.

 

“What? Me? Why?”

 

“Calling Chloe doesn’t make you nervous, and although you try to avoid bringing her up, when you have to do it, it still doesn’t make you uncomfortable. You’re hiding something.”

 

 _Why_ did his girlfriend have to be so perceptive? Just because it was a useful skill when battling akumas didn’t mean it had to transfer to their relationship!

 

“Hiding?” Chat said, his voice increasing by at least an octave. He really wasn’t selling his innocence here. “Me?”

 

“Admit it, Chat, you’re keeping something from me. I want to know why.”

 

He didn’t have a ready-made lie, even after years of hiding his favorite activity from his father. He could, of course, just give in and tell her the truth, but if there was one thing he’d learned from his father, it was how much you could be looked down on and ridiculed for doing something as stupid as reading fanfiction. He loved Ladybug too much to be okay with her treating him that way.

 

So he did the next best thing, and told a hurtful truth. “Did the thought ever occur to you that I don’t want to tell you?” he said.

 

She pulled back, looking like she’d been slapped. Chat felt like a vice was gripping his heart; he didn’t like seeing that look on the face of his Lady, and felt even worse knowing he put it there.  

 

Ladybug took a steadying breath before responding. “We’re partners, Chat,” she said, voice wavering only the slightest bit on the word _partners_. “We’re supposed to be open and honest with each other. That’s how relationships work. We don’t lie and hide things.”

 

Chat ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “But some things are best left unsaid,” he replied. “Trust me on that. There are plenty of things I don’t want to hear.”

 

“Not if both parties are trying to build a healthy relationship!” Ladybug shouted. “Why don’t you trust me a little?”

 

“Experience,” Chat said flatly, thinking of Father.

 

It didn’t occur to him until it was too late how Ladybug would take that. “Is that what you think of me?” she asked quietly.

 

Holy Hawkmoth, he hadn’t meant to imply that. “No!” he shouted, desperate to correct her. “Not you, never you! Porn! I was looking at porn!” Aaugh, desperate was not a good look on him and it made him say stupid things.

 

“I know you better than that,” she snapped. “Look, Adrien, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I’m going home where I can sulk about it properly. Don’t call me.”

 

And she was gone, yo-yo reaching out into the night.

 

Chat dropped to the rooftop, heavy with feeling. Why was it so hard to admit to his girlfriend that he read fanfiction, and romance fanfiction at that?

 

He knew why. The reasons were twofold:

 

1) Father. Always Father. He caught Adrien reading fanfiction when he was twelve, and all but held an intervention, convincing his son that while fanfiction wasn’t something produced by the devil, it was something to hide. If it came down to it, Chat might give up his secret identity before revealing he read fanfiction (and he’d die a hundred times over before ever admitting he wrote it occasionally).

 

2) Marinette once made an offhand remark about fanfiction. He couldn’t even remember what it was, but it wasn’t positive. It wasn’t negative, either, but it wasn’t positive, which was enough to throw him into Father Hates Fanfiction flashbacks. He loved his girlfriend to the moon and back, and the dead last thing he wanted to hear from her was that she thought his treasured stories were ridiculous.

 

Flinging himself backward, Chat stared up at the sky. He couldn’t see a lot of stars through the light pollution of Paris, but he could see enough to appreciate the beauty. “Stars,” he said, “how do I get out of this?”

 

The stars twinkled merrily but gave no response.

 

*

 

The next day in school, Marinette wouldn’t even look at Adrien, always making sure her attention was diverted elsewhere. No amount of effort on Adrien’s part made her look at him. He sighed in frustration. Why was she being so difficult?

 

Alya, ever observant, asked Marinette what was going on. His girlfriend stiffly responded, “Adrien and I are having a fight.”

 

“A fight?” Alya said. “Girl, that boy is trying so hard to get your attention. Maybe he’s trying to apologize.”

 

“Definitely,” Nino said, slinging an arm around Alya. “Bro’s got his sad puppy eyes going on.”

 

“If he wanted to say something,” Marinette said, jaw taut and eyes flashing, “then he could have done it last night.”

 

That was it. Staring out of the corner of his eye wasn’t sufficient anymore, so Adrien whirled around to face Marinette, fast enough that she recoiled ever so slightly. “And when was I supposed to do that?” he exploded. “ _You_ told me not to call you! I don’t know if you’ve noticed up there from your high and mighty throne, but when you tell me not to do something, _I don’t do it._ If only the same could be said of you.”

 

“What is that even supposed to mean?” she cried.

 

“I told you to drop it, but you have to pester me and dig deeper, when I clearly don’t want you to.”

 

“I’m your girlfriend,” she said. “You’re _supposed_ to tell me things.”

 

“Not everything! You don’t tell _me_ everything.”

 

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

 

Adrien gesticulated wildly, racking his brain for anything. “Like--uhm--you know--”

 

“Hah!” Marinette bellowed. “You can’t even think of anything, because I’m not in the habit of keeping things from you.”

 

He jabbed his finger at her, determined to be right. “You don’t tell me every time you start your girly--thing!”

 

She scoffed, crossing her arms yet again. “That’s because it makes you uncomfortable and there’s literally nothing you can do about it.”

 

“But you still hide it!”

 

“Not telling you is not hiding!”

 

“Exactly! And not telling you last night was not hiding!” She gave him the exact same _you’re an idiot_ face she gave him when he suggested she adopt him as a cat so he wouldn’t have to go home at curfew. “Okay, fine, that was stupid, but I stand by what I mean!”

 

Marinette turned to Alya and jabbed a finger his way, nonverbally informing her best friend that he was an idiot. So, childishly, he returned the gesture while looking at Nino.

 

Nino just laughed. “How cute! Are the cinnamon rolls having their first fight?”

 

“Looks like it,” Alya said in amusement. “Bets on how long it will last?”

 

It was far from their first fight. If you counted mind control, their first fight had been when Dislocoeur nailed Chat with an arrow and he nearly Cataclysmed Ladybug’s face. If free will was required, then their first fight had been over whether or not Chloe’s intel on Sabrina’s Invisible Girl was legitimate. Not like he could point that out, though, so Adrien settled with glaring at the besties.

 

Class was wasted on Adrien as he fumed over Marinette’s stubborn refusal to let this go. It’s not like he pressed her to tell him every minute detail when she was away from his presence, so was it that difficult for her to let him be?

 

Really, though, he was mad at himself for letting it get this far. If he’d been more aware of his surroundings, or willing to let his current fanfic addiction stay on pause until he got home from patrol ( _but they were about to kiss who the hell could leave that alone_ ) then she never would have caught him with his pants down, figuratively speaking, and they wouldn’t be in this situation.

 

“Bro, you okay?” Nino asked as class ended. The girls zipped out quick like a bunny, which was just fine with Adrien because he wasn’t willing or ready to face his nagging girlfriend just yet.

 

Packing up his books, Adrien responded, “No. I wish she would just drop it. I don’t have to tell her every little thing, you know.”

 

“Yeah, you do,” Nino said. “It’s the Law of Boyfriends. If you don’t want her to know something, make sure it never happens anywhere near her presence, anything that could be considered her presence, or anyone who could be considered a reliable source to report back to her presence. Otherwise, she’d gonna know anyway, so you might as well spill up front.”

 

“Just because you’re dating a journalist--”

 

“--Who I might point out is your girlfriend’s best friend--”

 

“--Right, you’ve got a point there.” Adrien sighed, slinging his bag over his head.

 

“Whatever it is you’re keeping from her, is it really that big a deal?” Nino asked hesitantly, like he was afraid Adrien would yell at him, too.

 

Adrien’s gut response to shout “YES!”, but he didn’t want to scare his best friend or make Nino curious enough to probe the issue, because if he wasn’t willing to tell Marinette, love of his life and partner whom he trusted beyond measure, he definitely wasn’t willing to tell Nino.

 

He with with a mumbled, “It is to me.”

 

Nino shrugged. “Then talk to her about it. And I don’t mean yelling or another argument, but actual grownup discussion using calm words. Throw an _I love you_ in there every once in a while just to remind her what really matters.”

 

Adrien wanted to snippily say he wasn’t a grownup so he didn’t have to act like it, but Nino’s advice was sound, and he really didn’t want to get into the habit of cutting off his nose to spite his face.

 

Sitting in his bedroom that afternoon, Adrien tossed a ball up and down while he thought (“hit me and you’re dead” Plagg threatened, even though he was on the opposite side of the room and Adrien would need a horizontal trajectory rather than the vertical one he was utilizing). If he sat down to discuss the issue at hand with Marinette, would she even listen?

 

When they first started dating, Chloe was an issue between them. She couldn’t just be ignored because she was Adrien’s friend, and even if she was no longer a very close friend, he couldn’t--wouldn’t--just write her off. Marinette, however, had nothing positive to say about the blonde and was happy to pretend she didn’t exist. She avoided the topic and refused to address it, but Adrien pushed and pushed until she was willing to talk about it (or maybe just caved to get him to shut up). With the issue addressed, they were both more comfortable, even if Chloe still didn’t feature in their relationship in any significant manner.

 

With that as history, how likely was Marinette to drop this whole fanfiction bit? There was precedence, and anyway, she was right. He shouldn’t be keeping things from his girlfriend--at least, things she already knew existed. He growled in frustration, lobbing the ball higher than before so it bounced off the floor of the balcony. If he had just sat and waited like a good kitten, she wouldn’t know he was hiding anything and they could have carried on like normal.

 

“I can hear you thinking from over here,” Plagg complained. “Whatever’s bothering you can’t be more important than cheese. If you’d just eat some, it would solve all your ills.”

 

Tikki ate cookies. How come Adrien got the kwami who not only revelled in stinky food, but insisted upon talking about it day and night?

 

“And if you offer some to Marinette, she’ll feel better and more willing to listen to your sad sob story, whatever it is.”

 

“I’m not offering Marinette stinky cheese.”

 

“And that, my boy, is why you two are fighting.”

 

Adrien lobbed his ball at his kwami, barely missing the ball of fluff. Plagg gave an indignant “hey!” and zipped away to pout in the bathroom.

 

Glaring at the ceiling, Adrien tried to reason his way out of having to explain his secret addiction to his girlfriend (what she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her! Distract her with kisses! Cause an akuma so she’d forget the whole thing! Get akumatized yourself and blame it on her! Fall into the Seine and tragically drown! Cry into your pillow until you pass out!), but nothing he came up with was feasible, plausible, or particularly healthy.

 

A sigh of defeat rolled out of Adrien. He was going to have to do this, wasn’t he, explain his guilty pleasure to his wonderfully normal girlfriend? Because it was either that or remain in a fight with her forever, which would result in a breakup, and that would crush him even worse than her declaring fanfiction a waste of time.

 

With that decision made, anxiety gripped Adrien’s heart and his hands got a bit clammy. This….this was big. To him, it felt about as big as the first time he told her he loved her. His heart had been on the line then, because although he was pretty sure she reciprocated, he wasn’t actually positive, and he knew he’d be crushed if she politely laughed it off with a haha, thanks anyway! In the end, she hadn’t, and had returned his confession. But this time, though? He was admitting his biggest secret after being Chat Noir (which she knew about anyway, for obvious reasons), his most precious secret, and he didn’t have a ready-made response if she gave him any other response than something positive. After all, he had a better chance of being related to Hawkmoth than he did of her sharing that she also secretly read fanfiction.

 

This was it, then. He was going to find her and admit the truth and pray she didn’t mock him.

 

With trembling hands, Adrien offered a wheel of camembert as peace treaty to his persnickety kwami. Once Plagg was satisfied with Adrien’s apology (“No, I won’t give you an entire cheese room! Just accept the stupid wheel!” _“Sniff,_ so unloved.”), he transformed and headed towards Marinette’s house, taking his sweet time about doing so.

 

The closer he got, the stronger his fear became, until it crowded out everything else in his head. His heart was pounding and his stomach churned, terrified at the prospect that Ladybug would spurn his hobby. Logically, he had no reason to feel this way, but when had logic ever played a part in sharing something you loved with an unknown quantity? And yeah, sure, she wasn’t in the habit of ridiculing him, but Father had been so insistent it was stupid, Chat couldn’t help but think everybody else thought the same thing, too.

 

Caught up in his anxiety, Chat didn’t even notice Marinette sitting on her balcony when he dropped down. Her resulting scream made him arch his back and hiss, looking for the intruder, before he realized it was him. He was the problem. What a great way to start a sensitive topic.

 

“ _What are you doing here_?” Marinette hissed. “I thought we agreed to not show up unannounced at each others’ houses, not to mention my parents will not approve, and they are just downstairs!”

 

Chat ducked his head. Honestly, he hadn’t been thinking, just moving before his cowardice overcame him and he retreated home, tail tucked between his legs. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Just figured I’d better show up before I lost my nerve.”

 

The hostility drawing her shoulders up relaxed, and her face smoothed from a glare into a thoughtful frown, her hair falling across her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her knees. Chat’s heart stuttered; she was so beautiful, but he couldn’t remember if she was beautiful because she was beautiful, or if she was beautiful because he loved her.

 

“I love you,” he said, slipping it out first to remind her what mattered, because Nino was right. “And I’m, uh, mostly ready to talk, or at least willing to drop in on you to talk before I lose my nerve, but if you’re uncomfortable, I can go away.” She didn’t say anything, the silence stretching between them. His catsuit was starting to feel uncomfortably tight and warm, his palms clammy even through the leather. A minute passed, then two, and still she didn’t say anything. Conceding defeat, Chat dropped his head. “I’ll go,” he whispered, torn between defeat at her silence and elation that he didn’t have to confess just yet.

 

“Kitty, wait,” she said, reaching out for him. He paused, hands on the railing, and turned to look at her, trepidation holding the rest of his body still.

 

She released a sigh, bangs fluttering. “Come in through the front door so my parents know you’re here,” she said. His face brightened, and he made to leap over the side of her balcony, but she called to him, “Just make sure you de-transform first! I don’t want to explain why Chat Noir is coming to visit!”

 

He wanted to be indignant, that _of course_ he’d remember to drop his transformation, but honestly, he’d forgotten all about being Chat and not Adrien the second she said “front door.” Rushing around to the side of the bakery where the door to their apartment was, Chat double-checked he was alone before releasing his transformation and knocking on the door.

 

“Need--cheese,” Plagg moaned. Adrien transferred a cube of cheese from his pocket to Plagg’s mouth before stuffing the kwami into his shirt. The stink of camembert wafted up, and Adrien once again wondered why his little godling liked the smelly food over the sweet.

 

The door opened, and Adrien’s heart skipped a beat.

 

“Adrien!” Tom bellowed, greeting him with a hug, but froze halfway through the motion. “Wait, Marinette said you’re not allowed to come over. Sorry, but I think I’m supposed to be mad at you.”

 

Ah, family affection and loyalty. Marinette had it in spades, and didn’t even realize how lucky she was. “It’s okay, sir,” Adrien said. “I’m actually here to apologize. Marinette is expecting me.”

 

“Well, in that case,” Tom said, following through with the rest of his hug. “Head on upstairs. You know where to find her.”

 

With a wave, Adrien slipped past Tom and hustled up the stairs. He, of course, loved Marinette all on her own, but her family made the experience of dating her that much sweeter. From day one, Tom and Sabine had welcomed Adrien into the family, never once making him feel like he didn’t belong. If Marinette was to be believed (and she always was), her parents had been supportive of their relationship before Adrien even knew who was under the Ladybug mask. They were certainly a lot more positive than his own father, who didn’t disapprove of Marinette, exactly. He just didn’t approve, either. He seemed set on resigned neutrality, with an occasional side helping of condescending acceptance.

 

Pausing at the entrance to Marinette’s room, Adrien held out his hand, inspecting it before he knocked. The nervous tremors of earlier hadn’t dissipated; his heart beat in time with his hand shakes. Part of him felt ridiculous; it’s not like he was coming up to admit he’d murdered her parents. But another part of him knew how much this mattered, to him at least, and he really didn’t want her disdain or her ire, even though yet another part of him was pretty sure she’d never be so callous.

 

He could really use a hug. Too bad his usual go-to hugger was the one he was confronting.

 

A gentle tug on Adrien’s ear reminded him he wasn’t alone. “Hey, kid,” Plagg said, “Stop freaking out. She loves you almost as much as I love camembert. She isn’t going to do anything that would rid her world of her camembert.”

 

Adrien forgot, sometimes, how much his kwami cared. Pretending his eyes hadn’t just gotten wet, Adrien smiled brightly at Plagg. “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

 

Plagg looked almost bashful for a whole second before he said, “I smell cheese!” and flew through Marinette’s closed door. Adrien let out a tiny fond chuckle; showing feelings had never been Plagg’s strong suit, even when he felt them deeply.

 

Taking one last calming breath, Adrien finally reached out and knocked. Shuffling feet warned him of Marinette’s approach, but he still wasn’t ready to see her beautiful eyes when she lifted the door. Trepidation gripped his heart again, and Adrien swallowed.

 

“Come in,” Marinette said softly, holding out her hand to him. Steeling his nerves, Adrien took the proffered hand, but didn’t stop inside her room. Gently he tugged her up the loft stairs until they were back on the balcony. He might be okay confessing to his girlfriend, but he’d rather hand his Miraculous over to Hawkmoth than have Tom and Sabine even suspect what he did in his free time.

 

On the balcony, Marinette seated herself on the lawn chair, arms crossed over her chest. Adrien took up position at the railing, running his hand through his hair once, twice, thrice.

 

“Well?” Marinette finally said. “What did you come here to say?”

 

Adrien took a couple of steadying breaths, then squeezed his eyes closed. Sharing secrets with his girlfriend, love of his life and light of his world, wasn’t supposed to be this hard.

 

“Hey,” Marinette said softly. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

 

This was it. There would be no turning back. “I...I’m….I’m really nervous about this,” he said, opening his eyes to stare straight into hers. “It’s just, this is important to me, and I’m so incredibly aware of how not important it is to everyone else, and how unseemly and unbecoming it can be, and Father made it abundantly clear this is something to be ashamed of, and I really like you, and I _really_ respect you, and I’m kind of terrified you’re going to think it’s stupid, or I’m stupid, that just makes this knot of tension in my belly--”

 

“Hey,” Marinette said sharply, coming to stand directly in front of him. “Let’s get one thing straight.” Reaching up, she oh-so-gently cupped his face, gently stroking his cheeks. Adrien was amazed at the amount of tension she drained out of him with such a small gesture. “ _You_ are not stupid. Let’s make that abundantly clear: regardless of what you’re going to tell me, _you_ are not, and never will be, stupid.”

 

Tears of relief flooded his eyes. He hadn’t realized how much he needed to hear that. “Sorry,” he said, voice thick. “I’m making a bigger deal out of this than I need to.”

 

“Adrien,” she said, her voice a soft caress, “if it’s a big deal to you, it’s a big deal to me. We’re in this together.”

 

Tears actually leaked out, and Adrien was caught between being completely mortified and excessively relieved. The pretty little smile Marinette gave him was distorted through the water in his eyes, and he couldn’t help but let out a short bark of laughter.

 

“Come here,” she said, leading him to her lawn chair and pushing him into it. She crawled into his lap, wrapping her arms around him, a gesture he immediately returned. “Now that we’re comfortable,” she said, a touch of the imp in her voice, “you can tell me whatever it is. I can’t run away, because you’ve got me trapped, and you can’t run away, because I’ve got you trapped.”

 

He was going to marry this girl someday. She was the greatest thing to ever happen to him.

 

“Now that we’ve got the embarrassing lead-up out of the way,” he said, “I’m here to tell you...well, the other day, when I was looking at my baton, I wasn’t watching porn.”

 

She snorted, sending vibrations from her chest to his. Tucking her head under his chin, he smiled. “I was reading fanfiction. Romance. Sailor Moon, to be specific. My dad caught me reading it when I was younger and made such a big deal over it that I’ve lied about it ever since. You catching me...I just felt like all my deep, dark secrets were being laid bare, and it terrified me.”

 

There was quiet between the two as her dancing fingers traced shapes on his side. Two hours ago, this silence would have sent him into a frenzied worry, but now it was surprisingly peaceful. Finally she spoke, saying, “Is that it?”

 

Bringing a hand to her chin so he could tilt her head up, Adrien demanded, “It? _It_? I just shared my biggest secret with you--”

 

“--being Chat Noir is your biggest secret--”

 

“--and all you have to say is _that’s it_ ? I’ve been fretting about this for days!” he rambled, completely ignoring her interjection. “My stomach has been in knots. _Knots_ , Marinette. And all you have to say is _that’s it_?”

 

“You know who my best friend is, Adrien. I’m not super into fanfiction myself, but Alya gives me blow-by-blow plot summaries of her favorite stories all the time. And trust me, I doubt anything you read is as weird as the stuff she reads.”

 

Adrien didn’t know what to say. All this time spent hiding his passion, all this recent time agonizing over Marinette’s reaction, and she treated it like he’d just announced he ate a baguette for lunch. She was completely nonplussed! He had no idea how to handle her mellow response.

 

“Hey,” she said, reaching up to bop him on the nose. He didn’t react. “I’m sorry your dad made you feel small for liking something he doesn’t understand, but I want you to realize I’m not your father. All I want is for you to be happy, and if that means you read made up stories about somebody else’s made up characters, then I’m okay with that. Way better than you being addicted to something lethal, or finding out you secretly enjoy murdering small animals. Trust me, Adrien, there are so many worse things you could be doing with your time.”

 

Well, _yeah_ , he just hadn’t expected her to be okay with it.

 

 _But she is, doofus_ , the logical part of his brain said.

 

Right. His gorgeous, brave, intelligent, endlessly kind girlfriend was okay with how he spent his free time. The realization finally took hold, and the smile that lit up Adrien’s face could have powered the sun. Squeezing her close, Marinette released a surprised squeal, which Adrien swallowed up as he kissed her. Smiling made kissing moderately more difficult, but if Hawkmoth suddenly appeared, revealed them to the world, and stole their miraculouses, he wasn’t sure it would do one thing to lessen the strength of his smile.

 

“You,” he said fervently once they’d parted, “are the best person and greatest girlfriend I know.”

 

Her responding smile melted his insides. “Yeah, I’m pretty great,” she said, snuggling into his chest.

 

*

 

_Mamoru broke stride, staring at the perfected form that was Sailor Moon. She really was shown to an advantage when she was kicking Negaverse butt. Such grace, such elegance as she tossed around her tiara, a seemingly impractical weapon, but extremely effective in the hands of a trained hero._

 

Chat paused, tapping his chin. Writing was a lot easier for him when he based everything off his relationship with Marinette. He wasn’t sure how his lovely girlfriend would respond, but he wanted their story immortalized in the written word, and he couldn’t wait to let her read it. She was his muse, after all.

 

Now, how to go about describing the upcoming kiss…?

 

“CHAT!” Ladybug yelled, jolting him back to reality. “Stop writing your love letter to Sailor Moon and help me fight this stupid akuma!”

 

Maybe he shouldn’t be thinking about his ship mid-battle, but really, he couldn’t help it that inspiration struck while his girlfriend was bespotted and flinging akumas all over Paris. She was so glorious he couldn’t help but use her as a model for his favorite fictional heroine.

 

“Coming, my love!” he called, clipping his baton to his waist. Ladybug had her yoyo out, ready to wrap around the newest villain, such a seemingly impractical tool, yet wildly effective in the hands of his trained partner. Walking up to her, he slid an arm around her waist and planted a kiss on her cheek.

 

“I never should have told you I was okay with the whole fanfiction thing,” she complained. “It gets in the way of everything.”

 

“I love you, too,” he said, kissing her nose, which she wrinkled in response, but the smile in her eyes belied the action. He knew how much she loved that he was comfortable reading and writing around her, that she found it a symbol of his trust. And he loved that she loved it.

 

“Dweeb,” she said, so fondly he mistook it for a pet name.

 

“Lead the way, My Lady.”

 

Wrapping her arm around him, she launched her yoyo into the night as they chased down another akuma.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Took the title from lyrics to the hymn “Oh, Holy Words of Truth and Love,” because goodness knows I’m not that eloquent.
> 
> How sweet, how dear the words we hear!  
> They're beautiful words of love.
> 
> This is a Christmas gift for pallasjoanna (pallasjoannas.tumblr.com) through the mlsecretsanta gift exchange. Merry Christmas!


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